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It was only a matter of time before someone – in this case Fake’s fellow entrepreneur Anil Dash – came up with a counterpart acronym, which encapsulates my stance towards tarot cabaret: Jomo, the joy of missing out.

[http://www.theguardian.com 17 October 2014]

insponouninformalinspiration

An oversized fedora (leather band) is a) more chic, and b) less annoying for everyone else. See Naomi Watts for inspo.

[The Guardian (UK broadsheet) 29 November 2014]

obviabbreviationobviously

Obvi she didn’t want to get in trouble, but wait! There’s more to it than that!

[http://perezhilton.com 10 December 2014]

Ugh: TIME Wants To Ban Girl-Centric Slang Words, And That’s Obvi A Problem

ancestral healthnoundiet based on the presumed diet of our Palaeolithic ancestors

‘Ancestral health,’ to use a term popular among Paleo followers, has gone mass.

[New York Times (US broadsheet) 21 September 2014]

Which is odd, because in many ways my husband has the instincts of a wild boar, and Ancestral Health – the lifestyle extension of the Paleo or ‘Caveman’ diet – is about going way back to a time of elk-jerky-eating, loincloth-wearing Lascaux dwellers.

[www.telegraph.co.uk 17 October 2014]

golden ricenouna genetically engineered form of rice with enhanced levels of vitamin A

Golden rice, as it is called, is meant to combat vitamin A deficiency, a huge problem in developing countries in Asia and Africa. Vitamin A deficiencies affect children and pregnant women who suffer everything from blindness to infections to death.

EvelabbreviationEnglish votes for English laws; the idea that only English (as opposed to Scottish, Welsh or Irish) MPs should be allowed to vote for laws that affect only England

Yet these are the two principal constitutional proposals that have come from the Conservative party in its kneejerk response to Ukip’s English nationalism and an ill-thought-out drive to impose what is commonly called ‘English votes for English laws’ (Evel).

[The Guardian (UK broadsheet) 18 October 2014]

English votes for English laws, or EVEL as it has amusingly become known (well, amusing to those of us with a penchant for jumping bikes over buses), came to dominate.

[http://news.sky.com/ 14 October 2014]

democratatornouna dictator who is democratically elected and controls a country through manipulation and legal restrictions rather than through
force

Putin, you mentioned. The late Hugo Chavez was a certainly a leading democratator as well.

In January we asked over 450 teachers from around the world to vote for the biggest writing challenge they face in their classroom. Since then we’ve dedicated a month to each of the top three voted for challenges with a series of webinars and blog posts from some of Oxford’s top teacher trainers. During our survey we also received some fantastic comments from teachers telling us about other writing challenges they’ve encountered. Join us as we take on 3 extra challenges raised by teachers like you. In this blog Olha Madylus addresses the first of these challenges:

Maybe this is something you have experienced? Teenage learners in particular can struggle with formal writing. They rarely use formal vocabulary even in their first language, and don’t see the relevance of formal writing. However, for most teenagers this will prove an…

dumbwalkingnounwalking slowly, without paying attention to the world around you because you are consulting a smartphone

He told me dumbwalking probably wouldn’t be a long-term problem.

[www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine 14 July 2014]

tech crechenouna safe where visitors to a place can deposit their mobile phones before exploring that place

The short film sees a young David Attenborough (voiced by impressionist Phil Cornwell) encourage viewers to leave the car at home and store their devices in the Tech Creche, leaving them free to enjoy the region’s majestic woodlands and coastline without digital distractions.

[www.thedrum.com 25 July 2014]

vampingnounthe activity of remaining awake late into the night, usually while chatting on social networks

‘Social media is about having agency over your own life and vamping is one way to recapture that,’ said Alice Marwick, an assistant professor at Fordham University who studies the Internet and society.